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Coastal systems under change: Tuning assessment and management tools
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 167 (2015) 1e3
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecss
Editorial
Coastal systems under change: Tuning assessment and management tools
Throughout geological history, the environment has always changed and always been subjected to natural internal and external influences but now there are additional stressors causing change at unprecedented rates and scales as the result of activities supporting the human population growing exponentially. Coastal zones are particularly subjected to intense human pressures especially because of the large amount of urban and industrial growth on the coast, adjacent to the coast or as the results of activities in catchments. The cumulative and synergistic effects between these human-induced pressures and with other environmental factors may compromise the status and functioning of some of these areas. Furthermore, knowledge on how climate and anthropogenic impacts interact and affect hydrodynamic, geomorphological, geochemical, biological and ecological processes in coastal areas is still limited. Despite the above, we have an increasing knowledge of the functioning of these systems, their connectivity to wider areas and the management applications required (Wolanski and McLusky, 2011, Elliott and Whitfield, 2011). However, an even better understanding of changes in ecosystem function and processes is required for implementing more efficient management and conservation strategies. The integration of current knowledge and the development of predictive tools involve a multidisciplinary effort to deal with challenges posed by changing coastal environments. This topic was the main focus of the 54th Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) meeting e ‘Coastal systems under change: tuning assessment and management tools’, held at Sesimbra (Portugal), from 12 to 16 May 2014. This conference had the participation of more than 250 researchers from 40 different countries, and addressed multiple issues from individual to ecosystem scales with a special focus on the effects of multi-stressors, aiming at advancing assessment and management tools. The meeting was organized in 6 main sessions, i.e. hydrodynamic and geomorphological shifts in coastal systems, geochemical processes in changing environments, shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, from genes to ecosystems: effects of global change, connectivity and its implications towards conservation and management, improving management and decision processes: advances in predictive tools. A large number of contributions focused on the processes and dynamics of coastal systems. Garel et al. (2015) addressed coastal erosion and dynamics in the south of Portugal, while Lopes and Dias (2015) studied the changes in tidal dynamics in Ria de Aveiro (Portugal) due to anthropogenic activities and discussed their consequences, in particular regarding flooding events. The role of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.11.022 0272-7714/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
coastal sand dunes and the absolute need of an active management was emphasised by Pinna et al. (2015) and Kenov et al. (2015) applied modelling tools in order to describe water fluxes in coastal bays. However, the discussions emphasized that the existing volume of knowledge on coastal systems is quite asymmetrical according to geographical areas and discipline (Wolanski and McLusky, 2011), hence the need for contributions such as the one presented by Claudino et al. (2015), on the functioning of mangroves in tropical areas. It is axiomatic that numerical models based on good conceptual models are required to predict and communicate the repercussions of change. However, while they may not yet be sufficient to predict absolute amounts of change and even less successful at indicating the level of error and uncertainty around those predications, modelling tools may be effective in forecasting for different scenarios of change, but such contributions are scarce (e.g. Kraus et al., 2015). Nonetheless, McPhee et al. (2015) developed a model integrating trophic relationships in saltmarsh biological communities. Other authors (Zarzuelo et al., 2015) used models to forecast hydrodydiz. Morenamics response to human interventions in the Bay of Ca over, models to improve environmental risk assessment of chemicals in estuarine and coastal areas were also presented and published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management (Ribeiro et al., 2015) (10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.05.022). Primary producers are key components in coastal ecosystems and responsible for many processes controlling biological interactions of biological communities. Phytoplankton dynamics were studied in different environments and some of their biotic interactions were highlighted by some authors (e.g. Brito et al., 2015a; _ Coelho et al., 2015a; Zak and KosaKowska, 2015), while some innovative methodological perspectives were also proposed and used to detect changes in primary producers communities (Gameiro et al., 2015; Goela et al., 2015) or to assess functional group structure in phytoplankton (Brito et al., 2015b). Human pressures in coastal systems have been increasing and a wide diversity of impacts have been documented worldwide. This topic was explored by several authors in the Conference and the different perspectives show the importance of having a multiand cross-disciplinary approach to studying and understanding human-related pressures against a background of natural change. For example, issues related to non-indigenous species were major topics. Obolewski et al. (2015) evaluated the impacts of an invasive hydroid in coastal lakes and evaluated its potential to population growth. Duarte et al. (2015a, 2015b, 2015c) described the status of an invasive plant species in saltmarshes of a Portuguese
2
Editorial / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 167 (2015) 1e3
estuarine system and compared its fitness with native saltmarsh plant species. The comparisons between non-indigenous and indigenous species were also made using other biological models, such as bivalves (Oliveira et al., 2015). Chainho et al. (2015) made an overall assessment of the situation regarding non-indigenous species in Portugal, and identified several possible cause-effect relationships between human activities and the occurrence of these species. One particular group that has been causing negative impacts in economic pillars such as fisheries or tourism is jellyfish, and the repercussions of these socio-ecological changes need to be determined, hence the importance of studies of abundance peaks in certain estuarine systems (e.g. Marques et al., 2015). While there are many pressures resulting from human activities, there is an urgent need to determine the relative importance of the different pressures, as well as their combined effects, to prioritise actions to tackle them and to weight the relative pressures in a geographical context. Indeed, society has long been told about the large number of pressures from humans but now has to decide which to tackle in an age of decreasing budgets for environmental studies. There is the need for more studies on the footprints, both spatial and temporal, of an activity and of the trajectories of both declines and recovery of ecological components and whole ecosystems. As a result of a wide variety of human activities in coastal systems, pollution continues to be the main subject of a series of contributions, especially in habitats receiving wastes and supporting necessary ecological functions, for example saltmarshes and estuaries (e.g. Lysenko et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2015). Pedro et al. (2015a, 2015b) compared metal speciation in saltmarshes with different morphology and estimated the changes in surface metal contamination induced by key-species such as the bivalve Scrobicularia plana and the mullet Liza ramada. Most importantly, we need robust and scientifically and legally-defendable science in order to inform management. Studies with a before/after/control/impact (BACI) design can provide such a robust approach to providing evidence of the effects of human pressures. As an example, Materatski et al. (2015) analysed benthic nematode assemblages in Zostera beds before and after vegetation collapse and evaluated the impacts of these changes. Finally, several authors have emphasized the effects of anthropogenic-induced changes in coastal environments. Davarpanah and Guilhermino (2015) studied the effects of microplastics and Cu on microalgae, while Coelho et al. (2015b) evaluated the effects of organic pollution on benthic communities et al. (2015) also used benthic assemblages of coastal lagoons. Pilo to assess their temporal variability along a contamination gradient in estuarine systems. We have had perhaps half a century of studying the effects of single stressors, such as overfishing, harbour emplacement and polluting discharges, on estuarine and coastal areas, and we have a good conceptual and often quantitative knowledge of these. However, we have a particularly poor-knowledge of multiple stressors and of the way to address cumulative and in-combination effects. In addition, we are increasingly aware of the natural functioning and variability of estuaries and coasts but need more studies on the influence of a human-induced ‘signal’ on that ‘noise’, the inherent variability. As such, it is important to show humaninduced changes and synergistic effects and other types of interactions with natural factors of coastal systems. In that scope, Mendes et al. (2015) analysed the variability of the historic record of rainfall and inferred its consequences on some biological groups and established relationships with human interference in river basins. In addition to this, the overriding challenges posed by climate change, which is superimposed on those other natural and anthropogenic stressors, urgently require attention. The paper by Elliott et al. (2015), which was presented at the symposium but published
elsewhere, draws attention to the changes due to climate change and particularly the challenges for marine and estuarine management. This special issue of Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, which gives the proceedings of ECSA 54 Conference, integrates a wide variety of topics that have in common the study of coastal systems under change. The results of these research articles have important applications in order to improve assessment methods and management tools, which is critical to improve the ecological quality and the sustainability of these environments.
References Brito, A.C., S a, C., Mendes, C.R., Brand, T., Dias, A.M., Brotas, V., Davidson, K., 2015a. Structure of late summer phytoplankton community in the Firth of Lorn (Scotland) using microscopy and HPLC-CHEMTAX. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 86e101. Brito, D., Campuzano, F.J., Sobrinho, J., Fernandes, R., Neves, R., 2015b. Integrating operational watershed and coastal models for the Iberian Coast: watershed model implementation - a first approach. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 138e146. Chainho, P., Fernandes, A., Amorim, A., Canning-Clode, J., J Castro, J., Costa, A.C., Costa, J.L., Cruz, T., Gollasch, S., Grazziotin-Soares, C., Melo, R., Micael, J., Parente, M.I., Semedo, J., Silva, T., Sobral, D., Sousa, M., Torres, P., Veloso, V., Costa, M.J., 2015. Non-indigenous species in Portuguese coastal areas, coastal lagoons, estuaries and islands. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 199e211. Claudino, M.C., Pessanha, A.L., Araújo, F.G., Garcia, A.M., 2015. Trophic connectivity and basal food sources sustaining tropical aquatic consumers along a mangrove to ocean gradient. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 45e55. rez-Ruzafa, A., Gamito, S., 2015a. Phytoplankton community dynamics Coelho, S., Pe in an intermittently open hypereutrophic coastal lagoon in Southern Portugal. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 102e112. rez-Ruzafa, A., Gamito, S., 2015b. Effects of organic pollution and physCoelho, S., Pe ical stress on benthic macroinvertebrate communities from two intermittently closed and open coastal lagoons (ICOLLs). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 276e285. Davarpanah, E., Guilhermino, L., 2015. Single and combined effects of microplastics and copper on the population growth of the marine microalgae Tetraselmis chuii. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 269e275. Duarte, B., Santos, D., Marques, J.C., Caçador, I., 2015a. Ecophysiological constrains of two invasive plant species under a saline gradient: halophytes versus glycophytes. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 154e165. Duarte, B., Santos, D., Marques, J.C., Caçador, I., 2015b. Impact of heat and cold events on the energetic metabolism of the C3 halophyte Halimione portulacoides. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 166e177. Duarte, B., Baeta, A., Rousseau-Gueutin, M., Ainouche, M., Marques, C., Caçador, I., 2015c. A tale of two spartinas: climatic, photobiological and isotopic insights on the fitness of non-indigenous versus native species. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 178e190. Elliott, M., Whitfield, A., 2011. Challenging paradigms in estuarine ecology and management. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 94, 306e314. Elliott, M., Borja, A., McQuatters-Gollop, A., Mazik, K., Birchenough, S., Andersen, J.H., Painting, S., Peck, M., 2015. Force majeure: will climate change affect our ability to attain Good Environmental Status for marine biodiversity? Mar. Pollut. Bull. 95, 7e27. Gameiro, C., Utkin, A.B., Cartaxana, P., 2015. Characterisation of estuarine intertidal macroalgae by laser induced fluorescence. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 119e124. Garel, E., Sousa, C., Ferreira, O., 2015. Sand bypass and updrift beach evolution after jetty construction at an ebb-tidal delta. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 4e13. Goela, P., Icely, J., Cristina, S., Danchenko, S., DelValls, T.A., Newton, A., 2015. Using bio-optical parameters as a tool for detecting changes in the phytoplankton community (SW Portugal). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 125e137. Kenov, I.A., Muttin, F., Campbell, R., Fernandes, R., Machado, F., Franz, G., Campuzano, F., Neves, R., 2015. Water fluxes and renewal rates at Pertuis ron Bay, France. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 32e44. d'Antioche/Marennes-Ole Kraus, R., Supic, N., Lucic, D., Njire, J., 2015. Impact of winter oceanographic conditions on zooplankton abundance in northern Adriatic with implications on Adriatic anchovy stock prognosis. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 56e66. Lopes, C.L., Dias, J.M., 2015. Tidal Dynamics in a Changing Lagoon: flooding or not flooding the marginal regions. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 14e24. Lysenko, L.A., Sukhovskaya, I.V., Borvinskaya, E.V., Krupnova, M.Y., Kantserova, N.P., Bakhmet, I.N., Nemova, N.N., 2015. Detoxification and protein quality control markers in the mussel Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus) exposed to crude oil: salinity-induced modulation. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 220e227. lico, M.M., 2015. Abundance, Marques, F.C., Chainho, P., Costa, J.L., Domingos, I., Ange seasonal patterns and diet of the non-native jellyfish Blackfordia virginica in a Portuguese estuary. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 212e219. ~o, H., 2015. A comparative Materatski, P., Vafeiadou, A.-M., Ribeiro, R., Moens, T., Ada analysis of benthic nematode assemblages from Zostera noltii beds before and after a major vegetation collapse. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 256e268. McPhee, J.J., Platell, M.E., Schreider, M.J., 2015. Trophic relay and prey switching - a stomach contents and calorimetric investigation of an ambassid fish and their
Editorial / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 167 (2015) 1e3 saltmarsh prey. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 67e74. pez-Gonz rcenas, P., Mendes, I., Lobo, F.J., Fern andez-Salas, L.M., Lo alez, N., Ba €nfeld, J., Ferreira, O., 2015. Multi-proxy evidence of rainfall variability Scho recorded in subaqueous deltaic deposits off the Adra River, southeast Iberian Peninsula. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 300e312. _ Obolewski, K., Jarosiewicz, A., Ozgo, M., 2015. Invasive Ponto-Caspian hydrozoan Cordylophora caspia (Hydrozoa: Cnidaria) in southern Baltic coastal lakes. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 147e153. Oliveira, P.C., Lopes-Lima, M., Machado, J., Guilhermino, L., 2015. Comparative sensitivity of European native (Anodonta anatina) and exotic (Corbicula fluminea) bivalves to mercury. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 191e198. Pedro, S., Duarte, B., Reis, G., Pereira, E., Duarte, A.C., Costa, J.L., Caçador, I., Almeida, P.R., 2015a. Metal partitioning and availability in estuarine surface sediments: changes promoted by feeding activity of Scrobicularia plana and Liza ramada. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 240e247. Pedro, S., Duarte, B., Almeida, P.R., Caçador, I., 2015b. Metal speciation in salt marsh sediments: influence of halophyte vegetation in salt marshes with different morphology. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 248e255. , D., Pereira, F., Carriço, A., Cúrdia, J., Pereira, P., Gaspar, M.B., Carvalho, S., 2015. Pilo Temporal variability of biodiversity patterns and trophic structure of estuarine macrobenthic assemblages along a gradient of metal contamination. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 286e299. Pinna, M.S., Cogoni, D., Fenu, G., Bacchetta, G., 2015. The conservation status and anthropogenic impacts assessments of Mediterranean coastal dunes. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 25e31. Ribeiro, D.C., Costa, S., Guilhermino, L., 2015. A framework to assess the vulnerability of estuarine systems for use in ecological risk assessment. Ocean Coast. Manag. in press. Santos, D., Duarte, B., Caçador, I., 2015. Biochemical and photochemical feedbacks of acute Cd toxicity in Juncus acutus seedlings: the role of non-functional Cd-Chlorophylls. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 228e239. Wolanski, E., McLusky, D.S. (Eds.), 2011. Treatise on Estuarine & Coastal Science. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 12 volumes. _ Zak, A., Kosakowska, A., 2015. The influence of extracellular compounds produced by selected Baltic cyanobacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates on growth of green algae Chlorella vulgaris. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 113e118.
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pez-Ruiz, A., Losada, M.A., Zarzuelo, C., Díez-Minguito, M., Ortega-S anchez, M., Lo 2015. Hydrodynamics response to planned human interventions in a highly altered embayment: the example of the Bay of of C adiz (Spain). Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 167, 75e85.
Henrique Cabral* MARE e Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ci^ encias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal ~o Carlos Marques Joa MARE e Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, DCV, Faculdade de Ci^ encias e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal Lúcia Guilhermino ICBAS e Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Department of Populations Study, Laboratory of Ecotoxicology & CIIMAR e Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Research Group of Ecotoxicology, Stress Ecology and Environmental Health, ICBAS, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal Victor de Jonge, Mike Elliott Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies, University of Hull, HU6 7RX, Hull, UK *
Corresponding author.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecss
Editorial
Coastal systems under change: Tuning assessment and management tools
Throughout geological history, the environment has always changed and always been subjected to natural internal and external influences but now there are additional stressors causing change at unprecedented rates and scales as the result of activities supporting the human population growing exponentially. Coastal zones are particularly subjected to intense human pressures especially because of the large amount of urban and industrial growth on the coast, adjacent to the coast or as the results of activities in catchments. The cumulative and synergistic effects between these human-induced pressures and with other environmental factors may compromise the status and functioning of some of these areas. Furthermore, knowledge on how climate and anthropogenic impacts interact and affect hydrodynamic, geomorphological, geochemical, biological and ecological processes in coastal areas is still limited. Despite the above, we have an increasing knowledge of the functioning of these systems, their connectivity to wider areas and the management applications required (Wolanski and McLusky, 2011, Elliott and Whitfield, 2011). However, an even better understanding of changes in ecosystem function and processes is required for implementing more efficient management and conservation strategies. The integration of current knowledge and the development of predictive tools involve a multidisciplinary effort to deal with challenges posed by changing coastal environments. This topic was the main focus of the 54th Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) meeting e ‘Coastal systems under change: tuning assessment and management tools’, held at Sesimbra (Portugal), from 12 to 16 May 2014. This conference had the participation of more than 250 researchers from 40 different countries, and addressed multiple issues from individual to ecosystem scales with a special focus on the effects of multi-stressors, aiming at advancing assessment and management tools. The meeting was organized in 6 main sessions, i.e. hydrodynamic and geomorphological shifts in coastal systems, geochemical processes in changing environments, shifts in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, from genes to ecosystems: effects of global change, connectivity and its implications towards conservation and management, improving management and decision processes: advances in predictive tools. A large number of contributions focused on the processes and dynamics of coastal systems. Garel et al. (2015) addressed coastal erosion and dynamics in the south of Portugal, while Lopes and Dias (2015) studied the changes in tidal dynamics in Ria de Aveiro (Portugal) due to anthropogenic activities and discussed their consequences, in particular regarding flooding events. The role of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.11.022 0272-7714/© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
coastal sand dunes and the absolute need of an active management was emphasised by Pinna et al. (2015) and Kenov et al. (2015) applied modelling tools in order to describe water fluxes in coastal bays. However, the discussions emphasized that the existing volume of knowledge on coastal systems is quite asymmetrical according to geographical areas and discipline (Wolanski and McLusky, 2011), hence the need for contributions such as the one presented by Claudino et al. (2015), on the functioning of mangroves in tropical areas. It is axiomatic that numerical models based on good conceptual models are required to predict and communicate the repercussions of change. However, while they may not yet be sufficient to predict absolute amounts of change and even less successful at indicating the level of error and uncertainty around those predications, modelling tools may be effective in forecasting for different scenarios of change, but such contributions are scarce (e.g. Kraus et al., 2015). Nonetheless, McPhee et al. (2015) developed a model integrating trophic relationships in saltmarsh biological communities. Other authors (Zarzuelo et al., 2015) used models to forecast hydrodydiz. Morenamics response to human interventions in the Bay of Ca over, models to improve environmental risk assessment of chemicals in estuarine and coastal areas were also presented and published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management (Ribeiro et al., 2015) (10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.05.022). Primary producers are key components in coastal ecosystems and responsible for many processes controlling biological interactions of biological communities. Phytoplankton dynamics were studied in different environments and some of their biotic interactions were highlighted by some authors (e.g. Brito et al., 2015a; _ Coelho et al., 2015a; Zak and KosaKowska, 2015), while some innovative methodological perspectives were also proposed and used to detect changes in primary producers communities (Gameiro et al., 2015; Goela et al., 2015) or to assess functional group structure in phytoplankton (Brito et al., 2015b). Human pressures in coastal systems have been increasing and a wide diversity of impacts have been documented worldwide. This topic was explored by several authors in the Conference and the different perspectives show the importance of having a multiand cross-disciplinary approach to studying and understanding human-related pressures against a background of natural change. For example, issues related to non-indigenous species were major topics. Obolewski et al. (2015) evaluated the impacts of an invasive hydroid in coastal lakes and evaluated its potential to population growth. Duarte et al. (2015a, 2015b, 2015c) described the status of an invasive plant species in saltmarshes of a Portuguese
2
Editorial / Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 167 (2015) 1e3
estuarine system and compared its fitness with native saltmarsh plant species. The comparisons between non-indigenous and indigenous species were also made using other biological models, such as bivalves (Oliveira et al., 2015). Chainho et al. (2015) made an overall assessment of the situation regarding non-indigenous species in Portugal, and identified several possible cause-effect relationships between human activities and the occurrence of these species. One particular group that has been causing negative impacts in economic pillars such as fisheries or tourism is jellyfish, and the repercussions of these socio-ecological changes need to be determined, hence the importance of studies of abundance peaks in certain estuarine systems (e.g. Marques et al., 2015). While there are many pressures resulting from human activities, there is an urgent need to determine the relative importance of the different pressures, as well as their combined effects, to prioritise actions to tackle them and to weight the relative pressures in a geographical context. Indeed, society has long been told about the large number of pressures from humans but now has to decide which to tackle in an age of decreasing budgets for environmental studies. There is the need for more studies on the footprints, both spatial and temporal, of an activity and of the trajectories of both declines and recovery of ecological components and whole ecosystems. As a result of a wide variety of human activities in coastal systems, pollution continues to be the main subject of a series of contributions, especially in habitats receiving wastes and supporting necessary ecological functions, for example saltmarshes and estuaries (e.g. Lysenko et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2015). Pedro et al. (2015a, 2015b) compared metal speciation in saltmarshes with different morphology and estimated the changes in surface metal contamination induced by key-species such as the bivalve Scrobicularia plana and the mullet Liza ramada. Most importantly, we need robust and scientifically and legally-defendable science in order to inform management. Studies with a before/after/control/impact (BACI) design can provide such a robust approach to providing evidence of the effects of human pressures. As an example, Materatski et al. (2015) analysed benthic nematode assemblages in Zostera beds before and after vegetation collapse and evaluated the impacts of these changes. Finally, several authors have emphasized the effects of anthropogenic-induced changes in coastal environments. Davarpanah and Guilhermino (2015) studied the effects of microplastics and Cu on microalgae, while Coelho et al. (2015b) evaluated the effects of organic pollution on benthic communities et al. (2015) also used benthic assemblages of coastal lagoons. Pilo to assess their temporal variability along a contamination gradient in estuarine systems. We have had perhaps half a century of studying the effects of single stressors, such as overfishing, harbour emplacement and polluting discharges, on estuarine and coastal areas, and we have a good conceptual and often quantitative knowledge of these. However, we have a particularly poor-knowledge of multiple stressors and of the way to address cumulative and in-combination effects. In addition, we are increasingly aware of the natural functioning and variability of estuaries and coasts but need more studies on the influence of a human-induced ‘signal’ on that ‘noise’, the inherent variability. As such, it is important to show humaninduced changes and synergistic effects and other types of interactions with natural factors of coastal systems. In that scope, Mendes et al. (2015) analysed the variability of the historic record of rainfall and inferred its consequences on some biological groups and established relationships with human interference in river basins. In addition to this, the overriding challenges posed by climate change, which is superimposed on those other natural and anthropogenic stressors, urgently require attention. The paper by Elliott et al. (2015), which was presented at the symposium but published
elsewhere, draws attention to the changes due to climate change and particularly the challenges for marine and estuarine management. This special issue of Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, which gives the proceedings of ECSA 54 Conference, integrates a wide variety of topics that have in common the study of coastal systems under change. The results of these research articles have important applications in order to improve assessment methods and management tools, which is critical to improve the ecological quality and the sustainability of these environments.
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Henrique Cabral* MARE e Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ci^ encias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal ~o Carlos Marques Joa MARE e Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, DCV, Faculdade de Ci^ encias e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal Lúcia Guilhermino ICBAS e Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Department of Populations Study, Laboratory of Ecotoxicology & CIIMAR e Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Research Group of Ecotoxicology, Stress Ecology and Environmental Health, ICBAS, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal Victor de Jonge, Mike Elliott Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies, University of Hull, HU6 7RX, Hull, UK *
Corresponding author.